Let's give Richo some credit

[Rubyjo]

Sure he had no game plan.. Sure he had no plan b.. Sure he was bland and boring.. But.. He created a team hard as nails.. Which is ready for a more evolved coach.. To take to another level. Thank you Richo. Boom development coach after all.

[WellardSaint]

Billings this year has really come of age, Acres seems to be tracking ok, Gresh was always gonna be a terror for other teams' defences..
It's just the F50 entries that are hit n miss

[saintspremiers]

He was fired a year too late thanks to the Finnis contract extension debacle.

That’s not Richo’s fault

[B.M]

I’m sure he did have a game plan, which Rattan has indicated he’s barely changed.

[freely]

Billings this year has really come of age, Acres seems to be tracking ok, Gresh was always gonna be a terror for other teams' defences..
It's just the F50 entries that are hit n miss

What, you mean the part of the game that Ratts worked on all year?

[Ghost Like]

A game plan the players have renewed energy & faith in carrying out. Clever by Ratten on a lot of fronts to keep things relatively the same, after all he was part of putting it together.

[B.M]

Or maybe they’ve just won games they should have won?

And lost vs Adel because that was also expected?

[desertsaint]

Not sure much more has happened other than the energy over the exit of richo. we've had an easy run since he left with just the dogs as a surprise.
when scott left (having just beaten the dogs), north won 3 of their next four - W, W, L, W
They beat Richmond, the Suns, Lost to GWS, and beat the Pies.
Since the they've lost 4 of 6 and been very ordinary culminating in a record low score.

carlton won 2 of Teague's first 4 - beat the lions (H), lost to the dogs, beat freo (A), and lost to Dees (the bloody dees!?) Since then they've lost three more and beaten the crows and swans at home.
Better form than North for longer.

we have won 3 of 4 with Ratts - beat the dogs (good win), dees (who doesn't), lost to crows, and just beat freo at home (again hardly unexpected).
Similar form. We beat 3 bottom 8 teams (dogs have risen since), and we finish with two more.

Simply not the quality of opposition nor the time span to gauge improvement. We are in similar form against the poorer teams than we were at the start of the year. After a spirited game against the cats i thought we were playing well enough to beat all those teams but the lads looked a bit demoralised by that loss. Richo leaving renewed them.

So is Ratts the reason for our form, or simply the imcubent who came in at the right time? After all, he's been in charge of our forward entries all year and it's been our biggest weakness.
I'm undecided.

[fugazi]

It seems to me the players are now clear about their positioning and roles. I think Ratts may have kept it simple and become more attacking.
Also, when a coa h is under pressure it invariably makes the team play are sort desperate joyless brand of footy.
Ratten has them enjoying their footy now...such an obvious difference.

[Spinner]

Sure he had no game plan.. Sure he had no plan b.. Sure he was bland and boring.. But.. He created a team hard as nails.. Which is ready for a more evolved coach.. To take to another level. Thank you Richo. Boom development coach after all.

How is this hardness measured again?

I have not idea how you have come up with this... is it relative to the other 17 teams in the competition?

[BarryGrogan]

I think we've been really soft to be honest.

Cho talked up pressure - but we were pathetic at it.

We are a poor tackling team, leak goals, and can't stop teams when they're on a run. We don't apply scoreboard pressure, and can't execute the basics when the heat is on.

That's on Cho.

In my opinion, he created comfort, as opposed to hardness and ambition.

That was my perception from afar.

Cho leaned towards being liked, rather than respected. This vibe permeated through the club, and the team.


FWIW, the biggest change I've seen in the past month is an improvement in mental hardness.

We persist. We kick goals against the run of play. We don't capitulate. We attack. We execute far better.

The general vibe I feel, is that we're no longer trying to just 'stay in the game', we're trying to win it.

[saintspremiers]

I think we've been really soft to be honest.

Cho talked up pressure - but we were pathetic at it.

We are a poor tackling team, leak goals, and can't stop teams when they're on a run. We don't apply scoreboard pressure, and can't execute the basics when the heat is on.

That's on Cho.

In my opinion, he created comfort, as opposed to hardness and ambition.

That was my perception from afar.

Cho leaned towards being liked, rather than respected. This vibe permeated through the club, and the team.


FWIW, the biggest change I've seen in the past month is an improvement in mental hardness.

We persist. We kick goals against the run of play. We don't capitulate. We attack. We execute far better.

The general vibe I feel, is that we're no longer trying to just 'stay in the game', we're trying to win it.

Nailed it.

I remember someone writing that Cho couldn’t handle telling players they were delisted.

I also detested how few changes he made week to week. Mr ultra conservative

[kosifantutti]

Or maybe they’ve just won games they should have won?

And lost vs Adel because that was also expected?

Bulldogs have been in red hot form but we beat them comfortably.

[Saintmatt]

I’m sure he did have a game plan, which Rattan has indicated he’s barely changed.

.... which is complete and utter bullsh!t. If you believe that; you'll believe anything. Ratten and Richo are good mates - Ratten couldn't very well come out and say how much he changed because it would imply that Richo was a paddlin' otherwise.

Here are the undeniable changes that Ratten made immediately: -

- Made Jack Newnes into a very accountable lock down forward on the opposition's best running defender
- Played Sinclair as a pure wingman
- Played Acres as a pure wingman
- Made us switch the ball into the corridor earlier when moving from defence (i.e. no further forward than the wing) to enable scoring opportunities to be created closer and in front of goal

And then there's the intangible stuff like making it feel like local footy club training with a bbq afterwards. And don't underestimate the way he speaks to the players. I hated listening to Richo's dribble at the end - imagine if you're a player having to listen to it all day every day; Ratten is far more authentic, animated and less-monotone. And the message is coming from a bloke with a 52% winning coaching record and who won a B & F in a Premiership year.

I get the feeling Ratten would rather die on his feet trying to win than live on his knees defending/apologising. That's an instant positive change in mindset for everyone that goes to work at Moorabbin each day.

[prwilkinson]

I’ve got no beef with Richo. He was nothing but a gentlemen whenever I interacted with him. 2018 was too much of a train wreck and he was crucified with injury this year. I don’t think his game plan sat well with the playing group and he never had much of a Plan B.

On the plus side.... he’s managed to get 50 AFL games into a lot of players. Its up to the next coach and the group to now take that to the next level.

[BarryGrogan]

There is absolutely zero doubt, that there was a directive under Cho to enter F50 defensively.

The 'bomb it in and setup' then rinse and repeat method was as clear as day.

The fact that the same guys did it play after play, week after week, year after year and were still picked every week - surely makes it fact that it was a directive from the coach's box.

The lowering of the eyes in the past month, along with actually having a forward anchored at home to kick to is as clear a change to the game plan as you could get.


Straight from Ratten's mouth were the words "I'm here to support Richo".

He didn't arrive and try to fix or shake up things. The club brought him in to help Cho deliver what he needed to.


Another thing that Ratten stated, was along the lines of 'just because we turn it over, does not mean that they should score from it.'

Cho failed at this. We would get cut open badly on turnovers. We had answer.

This in turn created fear when moving forward with the ball. Kickers knew they had no protection. Miss your target, and you're costing your team a goal.

The setting up behind the ball to protect against the turmover has given our guys some confidence to take a risk by foot. It's showing.

[BarryGrogan]

I’ve got no beef with Richo. He was nothing but a gentlemen whenever I interacted with him. 2018 was too much of a train wreck and he was crucified with injury this year. I don’t think his game plan sat well with the playing group and he never had much of a Plan B.

On the plus side.... he’s managed to get 50 AFL games into a lot of players. Its up to the next coach and the group to now take that to the next level.

I have no beef either.

He clearly gave his all.


It became obvious though that he couldn't kead footballers to their potential.

Once the leadership of Riewoldt left, Cho was on his own to lead them. He couldn't.



Having said that, I actually think that the mess following the Lyon/Watters eras was unfixable really. We were never going to be any good for a few years.

We actually needed a good guy that could just be steady and stop the joint imploding further. It was a poison chalice in that regard, and he did really well from that perspective.

[B.M]

Some absolute rubbish in this thread.

People see what they want to see

[n1ck]

Some absolute rubbish in this thread.

People see what they want to see

How cryptic!

[The Linton Street Flash]

As horrendous as the Alan years were, at least there were no obvious fatalities, that’s gotta be a positive?

[asiu]

Having said that, I actually think that the mess following the Lyon/Watters eras was unfixable really. We were never going to be any good for a few years.

We actually needed a good guy that could just be steady and stop the joint imploding further. It was a poison chalice in that regard, and he did really well from that perspective.

thats a fair assessment

i can run with that

[Impatient Sainter]

The only credit Richo deserves is he left with enough time for Ratten to show his wares, other than that the guy was a complete failure.

[Rubyjo]

Sure he had no game plan.. Sure he had no plan b.. Sure he was bland and boring.. But.. He created a team hard as nails.. Which is ready for a more evolved coach.. To take to another level. Thank you Richo. Boom development coach after all.

How is this hardness measured again?

I have not idea how you have come up with this... is it relative to the other 17 teams in the competition?

I come up with this purely that we are a solid tough team.. That's it.. Game plan was rooted.. But we are tough as nails.. We are a team that hits hard.. Skill may be off but that's not what my OP was about.. We are not a soft team.. Measured by observation..

[Scollop]

It seems to me the players are now clear about their positioning and roles. I think Ratts may have kept it simple and become more attacking.
Also, when a coa h is under pressure it invariably makes the team play are sort desperate joyless brand of footy.
Ratten has them enjoying their footy now...such an obvious difference.

Ratten was basically in control from late last year and he was running preseason training while Richo was learning about leadership in the USA

The players were saying at the start of the year that they had their best preseason and hardest preseasons since arriving at the club. Ratten is not only teaching our blokes better but he's also driving fitness standards.

I think Richo wasn't ruthless enough. Longer has been in the system 7 years. I reckon a senior coach needs to be accountable for the lack of development in an individual and in a team that is in rebuild mode.

I think there were some players where he took the slow patient approach instead of making them understand there was an urgency to get to an elite level of fitness or risk getting delisted.

We played football in 2018 the way we were led and coached by Alan Richardson

Why did Richo want to recruit Koby Stevens? Beacuse he didn't push players hard enough and there were far too many players who weren't fit enough or strong enough under Richo's watch. Acres, Billings and Dunstan took too long to establish themselves imo ( all had been dropped several times in the last 2 years) and are only now fulfilling their potential

Guys like Roberton, Bruce, Membrey and Jack Steele got their early years AFL development at other clubs under a different senior coach so their understanding of fitness and work rate was different to the guys above and same now with the mature agers that we picked up in 2019

[Spinner]

Sure he had no game plan.. Sure he had no plan b.. Sure he was bland and boring.. But.. He created a team hard as nails.. Which is ready for a more evolved coach.. To take to another level. Thank you Richo. Boom development coach after all.

How is this hardness measured again?

I have not idea how you have come up with this... is it relative to the other 17 teams in the competition?

I come up with this purely that we are a solid tough team.. That's it.. Game plan was rooted.. But we are tough as nails.. We are a team that hits hard.. Skill may be off but that's not what my OP was about.. We are not a soft team.. Measured by observation..

Quote of the year... ‘measured by observation’.

I have no idea how tough we are relative to the other 17 teams but our win loss probably suggests we aren’t any more tough than the other teams, probably less.